Introduced by:

David Bragdon, Director of the Mayor’s Office of Long-Term Planning and Sustainability  

Moderated by:

David J. Burney, Commissioner of the NYC Department of Design and Construction (DDC)

Kate D. Levin, Commissioner of the Department of Cultural Affairs.

Robert LiMandri,Commissioner of the Department of Buildings

Mathew M. Wambua, Commissioner of the Department of Housing Preservation & Development

Thomas Wargo, Director of the Zoning Division at the Department of City Planning

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When: Thursday, August 9th from 6 – 9 pm

Where: The Center for Architecture – 536 LaGuardia Place

Panelists:
Jerilyn Perine, Executive Director, CHPC
Mark Ginsberg FAIA, Chair, CHPC
John Shapiro AICP, Chair, Pratt Institute Planning & Sustainability
Marcie Kesner AICP, Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel LLP

Moderator:
Ernie Hutton FAICP Assoc AIA

This event features an exclusive showing of a film covering the Making Room design showcase held last November by the Citizen Housing & Planning Council (CHPC) and the Architectural League of New York.

Our Making Room initiative– looking at how demographic shifts are creating a need for new architectural designs, planning, zoning, and housing policies, and program assumptions– has been well-received, inspiring the government’s new adAPT pilot to develop a building of mini-studios.

Together with a panel of housing and planning experts audience members will also fill out, and evaluate, an interactive survey that will test assumptions about housing design, occupancy rules, housing programs and much more.

Cost:
Free for Members
$10 for Non-Members

RSVP here.

CHPC moderated a fascinating break-out panel at the New York State Association for Affordable Housing Conference that took place at the Times Square Marriot Marquis last week.

The session, entitled “Shifting Demographics: How to House a Changing Population” was moderated by Executive Director Jerilyn Perine and began with CHPC Policy Analyst, Sarah Watson, presenting our data model that analyzes and re-categorizes New York City’s households to examine how New Yorkers are really living today. The data revealed the extraordinary prevalence of single person households in the New York City housing market, and their struggles to fit into a housing stock that is mostly designed for families.

The panel then debated many different impacts of the rise of single people in the housing market, from the elderly to new tech entrepreneurs, and how housing policy and the development  industry can work to provide better solutions for this growing population.

When asked by Jerilyn Perine, if they could wave their magic housing policy wand, what one change they would make to improve the housing situation for single people, the answers were illuminating!

Matthew Blesso, Blesso Properties – Policy should focus on basic health and safety and not dictating people’s individual options for how they want to live.

Maya Brennan, Center for Housing Policy – There should be more flexible funding options for the development of housing and provision of on-site services for the single elderly population, including through Medicare and Medicaid.

Chris Cirillo, The Richman Group Development Corporation –We should get to a point in thinking about green and sustainable development where we look beyond simply meeting the requirements of LEED or other rating systems or focusing on specific green materials and building systems.  We need to see providing densely-developed housing for singles and other small households in transit-rich settings as one of the best ways to build green.

Kaye Matheny, NYC Department of Housing Preservation and Development – new technologies have been developed for buildings to provide more options for light and air. This means that smaller housing units are now possible and we can re-think policy to support this.

Sarah Watson, CHPC – Eradicate occupancy rules from every law and code in New York. They are all worded differently, which is confusing, but basically it is not permitted for more than 3 unrelated adults to live together. This acts as handcuffs on the development and design community from providing safe and legal shared housing for single adults.

Panelists and moderator: Maya Brennan, Matthew Blesso, Jerilyn Perine, Chris Cirillo, Kaye Matheny